This article is from WeChat public account: 小马 宋 （xiaomasong999） , author: pony Song title figure from: vision China
In general, the first chapter of a book addresses two important issues. One is to define the most important concepts of the book, so the first chapter explains what a brand is; the other is to tell the reader that this book What is the structure of the structure, so all the structural knowledge covered in the first chapter will be discussed in detail in the next chapter, then we will not repeat these structural content in detail, but talk more about what the brand is.
What is a brand
The basic definition of a brand is that as long as you have a name, a logo and a symbol, it is a brand, and a brand is to distinguish it from other people’s products. It is said that the earliest brand was born before 1300 BC. Ancient pottery craftsmen put their own logo on the works to make it easier for people to choose. And if they find that there is a problem with this product, they can also investigate the merchant and get compensation.
In 1266, English law required bakers to make a mark on each type of bread. The goal was to find out immediately if someone was short of two pounds.
There are several important functions about the brand:
The first is to reduce the customer’s choice cost, or choice risk, because a brand with long-term credit, the cost of choosing it is very low for customers, without having to think and search for more products;
The second is that the role of a brand is to allow the society to effectively monitor it, rather than ignoring it if something goes wrong; of course, because customers are trusted, the marketing cost of the business is reduced.
When we want to own a “brand”, we must not only know the benefits of owning it, but also the “bad points” of owning it.Dare to do bad things. If you do bad things and don’t want to be responsible, then you are not building a brand.
You see a lot of WeChat and Douyin merchants. The unscrupulous Wessian is going to harvest a batch of leeks, so it is doomed to fail to establish brand equity. I recently looked at Douyin ’s window products and found that Product evaluation is not done well, and complaints are inconvenient. If retrospective responsibility is difficult, it will be difficult to make a brand. At this point, there are still many ways to go.
I’m talking about the basic brand definition. It refers to the specific difference between each different product provider. The original purpose of this difference is to make it easier for consumers to choose, and also more convenient for regulators to Supplier supervision, these two roles of the brand have not changed. The other benefit of these two effects is that the marketing cost of the merchant is reduced, because consumers will actively seek you.
Someone will say that this is not a brand. Because we usually think of Coca-Cola, Nike is the “brand”, while an ordinary soda is “no brand”, Haidilao has a brand, and a hot pot restaurant opened by a couple on East Road of Jiaoda University has “no brand”. The above sentence represents our usual understanding of the meaning of the brand, but I do n’t think that speaking of the brand is rigorous, because the hot pot of this couple ’s wife shop is also branded to the neighbourhood neighbors, maybe they are both honest and kind, maybe They were enthusiastic and thoughtful, and the people around them were willing to come and eat hot pot.
So, is there a “brand” for a poorly-known hot pot restaurant? There are also. It has a poor brand reputation. Why do we say “good brand, bad brand, big brand, small brand”? Doesn’t this logically indicate that brands, whether good or bad, regardless of size, have brands?
So the conclusion I just said about the “benefits of brands” is also problematic in expression. I said that brands are designed to reduce the cost of choice for consumers. In fact, “the difference between high-quality brands and inferior brands” reduces consumption The cost of this choice is actually that the “brand mechanism” reduces the cost of social supervision, not that the “brand” reduces the cost of social supervision. If a merchant does not want to be responsible if something goes wrong, it is not “no brand”, but its brand credit is lost, just like a person borrowing money and not paying back, then next time no one will borrow him.
If let me rephrase “what a brand is” in my language, I would say:
Brands are produced for the purpose of distinguishing goods or service providers from each other, and belong to each provider’s unique name, symbol, logo, or a combination of these elements.
Legally, every service that has registered a name and logoBusiness providers have their own brands. The brand itself can’t bring benefits to the company. What can bring benefits to the company is the credit accumulated by the brand, which is closely related to the brand’s merchants, the meaning of the brand symbol, and the commitment of the quality of the related products. “Brand reputation”.
Is the Internet influencer impact on the brand?
Someone asked me, now that Internet celebrities are selling tens of millions at a time, can we still build a brand? Wouldn’t it be better to sell goods directly with internet red?
Ask this question, indicating that you haven’t really understood the meaning of the brand. A product has a brand, in fact, an online celebrity also has a brand. Why is Li Jiaqi live streaming with great results, because Li Jiaqi has become a “high-quality brand” in the Internet celebrity, we can also think of the Internet celebrity as a channel dealer, they and Wal-Mart, mail order , Weishang, self-media e-commerce, etc. have no essential difference. They are all sales channels for goods, but the sales channels themselves have their own brands. Wal-Mart, 711, Pinduoduo, IKEA, Joy City, Gathering, Vipshop, Tmall, etc. are all channel brands, and Li Jiaqi can also be regarded as a channel brand.
The influencer can quickly sell an “unknown brand” product. Essentially, it is the influencer who endorses the unknown brand with his own personal brand, that is, the channel brand is not well-known. The brand provides “brand guarantee”. Since customers believe in Li Jiaqi’s channel, they are willing to believe that the products sold in this channel are good and guaranteed.
This is a way to quickly build customer trust. It’s the same reason as other brands looking for celebrity endorsements. It is to use the celebrity brand credit to guarantee my brand and quickly build customer trust.
The phenomenon of net red bringing goods is not proof that brand creation is useless, but represents the rise of another channel brand.
Brands are not just for consumers
Brands are not only useful to customers, they also affect employees, society, suppliers, investors, and more. If you only calculate the financial revenue of Hi Tea or Nai Xue, it is difficult for them to achieve this valuation, because in the world’s stock markets, the catering industry PE is the lowest. Such a valuation is actually “Brand equity” gives them a valuation premium.
For example, recent events at NetEase will affect employeesBut this means that the brand is also dynamic, and the consumer’s perception of the brand is also dynamic. Since every moment is changing, the word “loyalty” is difficult to say.
Brands are moving, so are customers ’feelings. In a sense, brand loyalty does not exist. If brand loyalty exists, how can you explain that those glorious brands in the past will decline? Then Nokia should still be a mobile phone. I used Nokia from 2002 to 2012, but I gave up. It’s not that I don’t want to be loyal because its mobile phone can’t satisfy me.
If let me explain briefly, Brand is a kind of credit, but this credit requires you to continue to maintain it with behavior. Once your behavior does not maintain the brand credit, it means that the credit is bankrupt and the brand is Come back. The so-called loyalty of customers is because they recognize the “credit” you have accumulated in the past, but once your credit goes bankrupt, the loyalty will disappear immediately.
This article is from the WeChat public account: 小马 宋 （xiaomasong999） , author: Pony Song